Optimal conditions for the high yield of bioactive asterric acid from marine derived Fungus Aspergillus sp.

Abstract

Marine-derived microorganisms are vital sources of bioactive secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites of coral-derived fungi have several essential bioactivities. Asterric acid 1 is a broad-spectrum bioactive secondary metabolite of several fungal genera, especially Aspergillus and Penicillium. It has a wide range of interesting bioactivities such as antifungal, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, fungicidal, pesticidal, nematicidal, seed germination inhibition, anti-HIV activity, as a first non-peptide for endothelin binding inhibition, anti-plasmodial activity against the erythrocyte stages of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, having vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitory activity and as medicine for the initial stage of an endothelin receptor agonist. In this study, the yield of asterric acid was improved to a multi-gram quantity from the soft coral-derived fungus Aspergillus sp. through media optimization. The pure spoors of Aspergillus sp. were fermented at room temperature in the absence of sodium chloride salt. The yield of asterric acid was 650 mg/L at optimal conditions. The optimal conditions for the high yield of asterric acid were found as rice medium, room temperature, 56 days incubation and absence of sodium chloride salt.